DaisyP
18-03-14, 19:16
Hi everyone,
I am new here & I’ve been reading through lots of posts & they have been really helpful so I have decided to post myself.
I am naturally quite an anxious person, so over the years I have battled with anxiety, especially health anxiety. I had CBT training for it around 4 years ago & it really helped & I eventually stopped convincing myself I had brain tumours and AIDS.
Anyway, I do really really well with controlling it, that is until a new symptom pops up & I find it really hard to control my health anxiety and suffer panic attacks, the anxiety completely consumes my life and I can think of nothing else. I am going to put my hands up and say I am guilty of googling – although I have banned myself since I scared myself 4 weeks ago – and refuse to look on there anymore.
This time I have absolutely scared myself that I have MS. I have read through the sticky at the top which is brilliant but felt posting myself on here would help me to see it more rationally.
This all started around 6 weeks ago. Back in December I had surgery to which I had a few complications arise and had to stay in hospital for a week as opposed to 1 night. This was incredibly stressful as the complications I suffered meant I lost a part of my femininity – I won’t go into detail because there is no need to but it was an incredibly stressful time for me. Anyway, I cried for around a day or two and then managed to take it in my stride, putting it behind me and moving forward. The day after Boxing Day, about a week after coming out of hospital, I discovered I had a massive infection which meant a trip to A&E to be given IV antibiotics for three days, three times a day, as well as oral antibiotics. After the IV antibiotics I remained on oral ones for 5 weeks as the infection kept returning. The reason I'm sharing this is so you know my background for the past 3 months and from when the symptoms began. My mum also got diagnosed with breast cancer (she will be fine) 3 weeks ago. Anyway this is when it all started.
The pins and needles started about a week after coming off of the antibiotics. It started with itchy legs – which I put down to side effects of the antibiotics but it then turned to a pins and needles type feeling and it still remains now.
It started with both legs so I thought I had sciatica and then moved to just my right leg. My left arm remains unaffected but my right arm is tingly too and feels a bit weaker, although I cannot tell if this is in my head as I know I don’t have muscle weakness as I’ve done all the tests for it.
My toes also go numb every so often, so sometimes on the left foot and sometimes on the right foot and it varies between the toes but is normally my little toe on my right foot.
Other symptoms:
Tight/numb feeling in right side of face and right ear lobe – not every day but maybe every other day, no tingling just a tight feeling
Burning/wet feeling around lips – again not every day and is very sporadic and isn’t always in the same place around my mouth
Extreme tiredness – although this has lifted a bit now and I am feeling much better than I was but I literally couldn’t stay awake for more than 12 hours a day and work was really difficult
Eye pain but no vision problems apart from the occasional white dot flash
I have been to the Drs about my symptoms and in total I have now seen 4 different Drs who did blood tests (come back fine) & who have all said I don’t have the common symptoms of MS & they are not worried and said they think it’s been caused by post-op stress. They don't think it's linked to the general anaesthetic or antibiotics. Whatever I say to myself I just cannot believe my Drs in the slightest as I'm worried about things being missed.
I have also seen an optician about the eye pain and a random white dot which keeps appearing in my vision and he has given me a thorough eye examination – including pictures of the back of my eye and he said my eye health is 100% and I do not have optic neuritis, which is what I was worried about because I know it can be linked to MS.
Anyway, last week I felt better and the pins and needles and muscle weakness (or perception of muscle weakness) disappeared for a while and my anxiety lifted but this week it’s back in full force and is making me feel absolutely awful again. I am getting married in October and feel that all these symptoms, coupled with the anxiety, is spoiling what is supposed to be a really happy time for me.
My questions are IF this is just anxiety and stress then why have I never experienced this type of side effect before? I also dealt with the above quite well and I haven't let it bring me down so could it even be stress/anxiety related? How long does it normally last?
Also to add, I suffer from fibromyalgia, however never in the pins and needles/numbness form but widespread pain.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you in advance. :)
I am new here & I’ve been reading through lots of posts & they have been really helpful so I have decided to post myself.
I am naturally quite an anxious person, so over the years I have battled with anxiety, especially health anxiety. I had CBT training for it around 4 years ago & it really helped & I eventually stopped convincing myself I had brain tumours and AIDS.
Anyway, I do really really well with controlling it, that is until a new symptom pops up & I find it really hard to control my health anxiety and suffer panic attacks, the anxiety completely consumes my life and I can think of nothing else. I am going to put my hands up and say I am guilty of googling – although I have banned myself since I scared myself 4 weeks ago – and refuse to look on there anymore.
This time I have absolutely scared myself that I have MS. I have read through the sticky at the top which is brilliant but felt posting myself on here would help me to see it more rationally.
This all started around 6 weeks ago. Back in December I had surgery to which I had a few complications arise and had to stay in hospital for a week as opposed to 1 night. This was incredibly stressful as the complications I suffered meant I lost a part of my femininity – I won’t go into detail because there is no need to but it was an incredibly stressful time for me. Anyway, I cried for around a day or two and then managed to take it in my stride, putting it behind me and moving forward. The day after Boxing Day, about a week after coming out of hospital, I discovered I had a massive infection which meant a trip to A&E to be given IV antibiotics for three days, three times a day, as well as oral antibiotics. After the IV antibiotics I remained on oral ones for 5 weeks as the infection kept returning. The reason I'm sharing this is so you know my background for the past 3 months and from when the symptoms began. My mum also got diagnosed with breast cancer (she will be fine) 3 weeks ago. Anyway this is when it all started.
The pins and needles started about a week after coming off of the antibiotics. It started with itchy legs – which I put down to side effects of the antibiotics but it then turned to a pins and needles type feeling and it still remains now.
It started with both legs so I thought I had sciatica and then moved to just my right leg. My left arm remains unaffected but my right arm is tingly too and feels a bit weaker, although I cannot tell if this is in my head as I know I don’t have muscle weakness as I’ve done all the tests for it.
My toes also go numb every so often, so sometimes on the left foot and sometimes on the right foot and it varies between the toes but is normally my little toe on my right foot.
Other symptoms:
Tight/numb feeling in right side of face and right ear lobe – not every day but maybe every other day, no tingling just a tight feeling
Burning/wet feeling around lips – again not every day and is very sporadic and isn’t always in the same place around my mouth
Extreme tiredness – although this has lifted a bit now and I am feeling much better than I was but I literally couldn’t stay awake for more than 12 hours a day and work was really difficult
Eye pain but no vision problems apart from the occasional white dot flash
I have been to the Drs about my symptoms and in total I have now seen 4 different Drs who did blood tests (come back fine) & who have all said I don’t have the common symptoms of MS & they are not worried and said they think it’s been caused by post-op stress. They don't think it's linked to the general anaesthetic or antibiotics. Whatever I say to myself I just cannot believe my Drs in the slightest as I'm worried about things being missed.
I have also seen an optician about the eye pain and a random white dot which keeps appearing in my vision and he has given me a thorough eye examination – including pictures of the back of my eye and he said my eye health is 100% and I do not have optic neuritis, which is what I was worried about because I know it can be linked to MS.
Anyway, last week I felt better and the pins and needles and muscle weakness (or perception of muscle weakness) disappeared for a while and my anxiety lifted but this week it’s back in full force and is making me feel absolutely awful again. I am getting married in October and feel that all these symptoms, coupled with the anxiety, is spoiling what is supposed to be a really happy time for me.
My questions are IF this is just anxiety and stress then why have I never experienced this type of side effect before? I also dealt with the above quite well and I haven't let it bring me down so could it even be stress/anxiety related? How long does it normally last?
Also to add, I suffer from fibromyalgia, however never in the pins and needles/numbness form but widespread pain.
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you in advance. :)